My research activities are aimed at how animals organize their behavior by integrating motivation, experience and sensation. My laboratory analyzes decision-making in behavioral expression and the underlying neural network circuitry. We analyze interactions of neural networks and the regulation of network activity by cell signalling pathways involving neuromodulatory messengers and second messenger pathways. We use the carnivorous marine snail Pleurobranchaea californica as a model system, taking advantage of the simple behavior and brain that underlie its success as a generalized predator. A corollary activity newly emerging as a result of the behavioral and physiological work is the development of software and hardware platforms for autonomous cost-benefit analysis of alternative behaviors for computational decision-making and robotics.

Gillette, R. and Jing, J. 2001. The role of the escape swim motor network in the organization of behavioral hierarchy and arousal in Pleurobranchaea. Symposium on Swimming in Opisthobranch Mollusks: Contributions to Control of Motor Behavior. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Atlanta. Amer. Zool.

Sudlow, L.C. and Gillette, R. 1995. Cyclic AMP-Gated sodium current in neurons of the pedal ganglion of the Pleurobranchaea californica is activated by serotonin. J. Neurophysiol. 73:2230-6. [Abstract]